Kraft Calls Gronk Rumors 'Hogwash'

Patriots owner Robert Kraft says rumors of an imminent trade of tight end Rob Gronkowski are "completely made up."

(Published Tuesday, June 12, 2018)

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft expressed his frustration Tuesday with recent rumors that the team tried to trade tight end Rob Gronkowski.

"I guess when your team is good, people are looking for things. I'll just tell you it's a bunch of hogwash that I vetoed some trade," Kraft told reporters at the 2018 Myra Kraft Community MVP Awards. "That was never in the works."

Social media exploded Friday after rumors of a pending Gronkowski trade were circulated on Reddit and Twitter. NBC Sports Boston's Tom Curran ended the speculation when he reported that there was "zero truth" to the rumor that Gronk was about to be traded.

But a freelance reporter, citing unnamed sources, reported later that same day that head coach Bill Belichick wanted to deal Gronkowski but the trade was vetoed by Kraft.

Gronk Blames Trade Rumors on "Fake News"

Gronkowski answered a question about trade rumors with the now-ubiquitous way to deny anything: "fake news."

(Published Saturday, June 9, 2018)

"It's just completely made up, and I think we have to be careful in society today that people just can't come out and say things," Kraft continued. "This bit about us trading Gronk to the 49ers or Tennessee, there's no basis to it and it gets a life of its own. I just want to go on record at today's event to make sure you all understand there's no truth to that."

Gronkowski also said over the weekend that there was no truth to the trade rumors.

"It just shows how much fake news is out there," he said. "I mean it definitely was not happening one bit, so I have no clue how that gets started or anything."